Background: Piper chaba Hunter, a flowering vine of the Piperaceae family, has long been used in South Asian countries for culinary purposes and traditionally in fat-rich meat preparation. The curative potential of this herb is of great interest to be studied. Objectives: The antioxidant and anticoagulation potential, as well as total phenolic and flavonoid content, were evaluated using cold and boiled water extract separately from the dried and ground stem. Methods: Antioxidant potential was evaluated by 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. The anticoagulation activity was evaluated by serine protease inhibition assay and prothrombin time (PT) assay. Folin–, Ciocalteu (FC) reagent and aluminum complex (AlCl3) were used to assess total phenolic content and total flavonoid content, respectively. Results: DPPH scavenging assay revealed the IC50 value of 125. 52 μ, g. mL-1 and 157. 94 μ, g. mL-1 for boiled and cold water extract, respectively. Potent ferric reducing potential (FRAP) was observed as 142. 87 μ, M and 135. 37 μ, M of ferrous equivalent per 100 μ, g for boiled and cold water extract, respectively. The IC50 value of serine protease inhibitory activity was found as 182 μ, g. mL-1 and 161. 12 μ, g. mL-1 for cold and boiled water extract, respectively. The PT time was 27. 00 min for boiled water extract and 24. 68 min for cold water extract. Significant phenolic and flavonoid content was also found in the test sample. Conclusion: P. chaba stem extract possesses potent antioxidant and anticoagulation activity, which can neutralize oxidative free radicals and have a vasodilation effect in oxidative and inflammatory diseases.

Background and Aim: Gastrointestinal bleeding is one of the most complications in anticoagulated patients. Previous series have shown that most anticoagulated patients who present with gastrointestinal bleeding have had mucosal disease.Materials and Methods: The underlying diagnosis and clinical course of 60 patients who represented with severe acute gastrointestinal haemorrhage while taking the anticoagulant warfarin is reviewed, and matched with 120 patients in control group who presented in the same, not taking warfarin.Results: The mean age of patients was 62 years. A bleeding site was identified in 90% of cases and the major source of bleeding was the alimentary tract. The most common diagnosis was peptic ulcer and erosion. The most of patients were hemodynamicaly stable, and shock was more frequent in patients with INR more than therapeutic level. No direct relation was found between anticoagulation period, history of gastrointestinal disease and drug history of patients with bleeding severity. Endoscopic treatment was attempted in 30% of patients. Conclusion: In our study the most common cause of gastrointestinal bleeding is peptic ulcer disease. Also this study shows that patients who had GI bleeding can safely undergo endoscopic treatment.

Introduction: Fishery wastes are the unique sources of natural products, and structural and chemical characteristics of their extracted compounds are different from those of terrestrial animals. They are known as rich sources of bioactive molecules, including collagen and glycosaminoglycan (GAG). In the present study, we extracted and analysed the anticoagulant activity of GAG from fish (Rutilus frisii kutum) scales. Methods: The GAG compounds were extracted using cationic salt of cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC). Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to identify and compare the structure of the extracted GAG with that of heparin. anticoagulant property of extracted material was measured by prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and thrombin time (TT) on human plasma at three concentrations of 50, 100, and 200 μ g/mL. Results: The mass of the extracted GAG was estimated approximately 23. 8 mg/g of dry tissue. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of heparin-like compounds in fish scales-extracted GAG. Human plasma coagulation times significantly increased with increasing the extracted GAGs concentration. At the concentration of 200 μ g/mL, coagulation time of aPTT was 4. 3 times as that of control reaching 138. 6 seconds. Conclusion: The results of the current study showed that the GAG extracted from fish scales had valuable anticoagulant properties compared to synthetic anticoagulant compounds such as heparin.

1. Background: The incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in children has been steadily increasing over the past 20 years, mainly due to increased use of central venous access devices and significant advances in child management under chronic and/or severe medical conditions (1). The rapid growth of VTE in pediatric tertiary care hospitals across the United States has become a problem that cannot be ignored. Pediatricians must deal with the fact that most of the latest treatment recommendations for VTE in children are derived from adult-related research in the treatment of VTE (2). Understanding the reasons for the rapid increase in children with this disease, conducting identification of such children and research on optimal treatment strategies is crucial...

To investigate whether lupus anticoagulant (LA) positivity, a frequently associated factor in a variety of thromboembolic events, might be relevant to the pathogenesis of retinal vascular disease in diabetes mellitus.Materials and Methods: Eighty-five diabetic pa-tients (44 type 1 and 41 type 2) were examined for total blood counts, screening coagulogram and LA.Results: LA was positive in 20.5% of patients with type 1 diabetes and in 33.3% with patients of type 1 diabetes and retinopathy, whereas, LA was positive in only 7.3% of patients with type 2 diabetes and in 6.4% of them with retinopathy.Conclusion: These findings suggest that LA positivity might be considered as an additional risk factor in the pathogenesis of microvascular disease in type 1 diabetes.[Int J Endocrinol Metab 2005; 1:33-36]

Background and Objectives: Thrombotic events are among the most important complications in patients with betathalassemia major. Alterations in natural anticoagulation system have a major contribution to the occurrence of thrombotic events in these patients. This study was performed to evaluate the protein C, protein S and Antithrombin III activity in patients with beta-thalassemia major having referred to Mofid Children Hospital in 1382.Materials and Methods: Thalassemic children older than 2 years of age, with the interval of more than 25 days since last transfusion, and without any evidence of symptomatic liver or heart disease were enrolled in the study. Plasma activity of protein C and protein S was assessed by PTT based tests and the activity of antithrombin III was determined by chromogenic method. The correlation between decreased levels of anticoagulants and other parameters such as splenectomy, liver transaminases and serum ferritin level was analyzed by spss software.T-test and Mann whitney U-test were used to compare the mean values of variables.Results: 20.3% of patients showed a decrease in protein C and 15.3% in protein S. 12 patients had been splenectomized. Mean protein C activity in splenectomized and non-splenectomized patients were 63.4±17.9% and 74.5±15.1%, respectively (p<0.04).Conclusions: There was a decrease in proteins C and S activity in thalassemia major patients. Splenectomy might cause reduction in protein C level. Analytic studies are recommended to evaluate the activity of anticoagulant system in thalassemic patients. In addition, assessment of this system is suggested prior and after splenectomy.